


The Definition of Family

by chikage



Category: One Piece, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Non-Linear Narrative, marcoace is implied/very subtle and can be read as either romantic or platonic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:46:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29149929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chikage/pseuds/chikage
Summary: Finding someone unrelated to you with a quirk similar to yours was nearly impossible. Quirks were unique and different because of the way they mix and change to create different powers, finding someone with a quirk similar to yours was a one in a million chance. So when Todoroki Shouto meets Ace, he doesn’t know what to think. Ace who has a quirk so similar to his father‘s. Ace who's the most terrifying yet kind person he’s met.
Relationships: (IMPLIED), Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco & Portgas D. Ace, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace, Portgas D. Ace & Todoroki Shouto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 126





	1. Shouto

**Author's Note:**

> warnings for: mentions of child abuse and child neglect

**part i: shouto**

Todoroki Shouto knows he shouldn’t be here.

But his siblings are all out with their friends, his mom’s out running errands and his dad left him to go patrolling—leaving Shouto all alone in a big empty house and nothing to do. 

He’s supposed to be home practicing his quirk. 

But the house is empty with no one to return for a few more hours and Shouto finds the woods just a half hour away to be calming. The air is fresh and crisp and the sun streaming in from beneath the leaves is just the perfect temperature with just the right amount of light for a day like this. The grass crunches beneath his feet as he walks the same path he has for the first month; leading him to the one person he finds he doesn’t mind being with.

——— 

Shouto first met Ace by accident.

He doesn’t want to be home. The house is empty—not exactly a rare occurrence, but it does get lonely and Shouto gets bored and when Shouto is bored he’ll try to make himself unbored. Exploring isn’t boring and so Shouto explores. It’s one of those rare freedoms he has. 

He explores his backyard, the streets near his house and everywhere in between until he reaches the woods-like area not too close from his house but also not too far. 

He’s been to the woods before. But every time he was there it was empty—but not lifelessly empty like his house. He’s been there before. His dad’s taken him there for training once and before his quirk appeared, Touya would take him there and they’d spend the day playing around in any one of the small clearings. 

It’s there he met Ace. 

Ace who looked dead and Shouto who poked at him with the tip of his shoe—just to make sure—before he sleepily opened an eye and scared Shouto’s heart—and a bit (a small bit) of fire—out of him. Ace was polite and helped calm him down in a way that no other adult in his life had ever tried to do. 

Ace who has eyes like Shouto’s own. 

It’s like that that Shouto comes to know Ace.

——— 

School has always taught Shouto that even though the majority of the population is born with a quirk; it’s almost impossible to find someone with the same quirk as you. Because quirks are constantly mutating and changing to form new more unique abilities—it’s a rare, one in a million chance to find someone with a quirk similar to your own.

But then Shouto met Ace and Ace’s quirk is like his father’s and it’s a little less than impossible.

——— 

Ace is terrifying in the way that his quirk is just as terrifying as it is similar to that of Shouto’s father.

Ace is strong and his flames burn hot and bright like his father’s. And Shouto quickly finds out that that’s where the similarities end. 

Ace is kind and nudges him gently when teaching Shouto—not necessarily about his quirk but the woods around them as well—the trees, the animals, the weather, the everything. 

Ace also understands Shouto’s aversion to the fire half of his quirk—and although he constantly tells Shouto that he should learn to control his flames better, he never pushes it. 

Not once has he pushed or argued or fought Shouto about using his other half—of using his _fire._

Not once. 

He’ll tell Shouto that it’s better if he can just control it, he doesn’t have to master it. 

He doesn’t have to use it, Ace’ll say, he just needs to control it. 

But whenever Shouto says he wants nothing to do with that said of his quirk, Ace doesn’t push. 

It’s something he doesn’t understand but is eternally grateful for. 

His father usually fights him to use it and his mother sits idly watching him from the sidelines. He doesn’t understand why Ace would say that it’s okay to not use it. 

It’s weird and confusing. 

But Shouto will take what he can get and who knows if he brings it back up Ace might change his mind the next time they talk about it. So Shouto stays quiet about his quirk and let’s Ace teach him about the small little world within the woods.

——— 

It’s a couple of months after he met Ace that it happens.

His parents’ relationship has been worse than usual, the house colder than usual and his father stricter. 

All Shouto wanted was to check up on his mother. He knows that as much as she tries to hide it, it takes a toll on her too.

Everything that goes on within the house hurts her too, even when she doesn’t show it—even when she ignores it. 

Futumi is out, Natsuo in his room, his father‘s out, but his mother is home in the kitchen. 

Shouto cares about his mother so much. And though she stands to the side when it comes to his father she has always been there for him in every other aspect—even though she always remains a distance away from Shouto. 

All he wanted was to talk to his mother. All he wanted was a moment with his mother, one filled with the same kind of warmth that they used to have before his quirk manifested. 

His mother’s in the kitchen, a steaming kettle in one hand, her phone in the other. She’s angry, Shouto can tell that much and when she turns to look at Shouto there’s a crazed look in her eyes—ones that remind him of his father. 

Shouto doesn’t cry. He doesn’t make a peep. 

(They don’t call an ambulance. When his father came home he immediately called Fuyumi come home and patch him up with some gauze and a weird smelling cream. Natsuo completely ignores him—like always—and his mother disappears, never to be seen again.)

——— 

Shouto knows he shouldn’t be here. It’s the day after the accident and so obviously his eye is still bandaged up.

But his mom’s gone, his dad and siblings are all out. ~~And Touya’s gone, but Touya’s been gone.~~

Shouto knows that Ace will ask questions. That Ace knows that he’s only in kindergarten and that school hasn’t taught him to use his quirk for fighting. Ace knows that Shouto’s own fire doesn’t burn him. 

Ace is smart, but he hasn’t noticed anything before so hopefully he won’t now. 

Ace is smart, but Shouto doesn’t want to be at home right now. 

Shouto meets Ace at the same exact spot they’ve been meeting up for at least once every two weeks—sometimes more—for the past several months. 

Shouto meets Ace at their usual spot, one eye covered up with bandages and a defeated look in the one left uncovered. 

Shouto meets Ace and at the moment Ace lays his eyes on him he looks angrier, more defeated than Shouto has ever seen him. 

Shouto thinks Ace’ll hit him. 

Ace drops down, caresses Shouto’s face, and Shouto doesn’t understand.

——— 

Shouto’s siblings—Fuyumi and Natsuo—had always kept a distance from him, always looked at him from afar ever since his quirk manifested.

Shouto’s own mother always kept him at an arm's length away. She took care of him, watched TV with him, listened to him, patched him up when his father pushed too hard. But even then she kept herself withdrawn from him. ~~And now she’s gone.~~

Shouto’s father pushed him. Pushed him to fight. Pushed him to train. Pushed him to use his quirk. Pushed his dreams and aspirations onto him. Pushed him. Pushed him. Pushed him. Pushed him. 

Ace talks to him and Ace plays with him. Ace listens to him. Ace doesn’t patch him up because he doesn’t know. But Ace teaches him what he wants to learn. Ace let’s him not use his quirk. Ace let’s him dream. Ace let’s him be _himself._

——— 

Ace pulls himself away from Shouto. His eyes look wet to Shouto, but Shouto thinks that it might just be the light.

Wet and angry, like he’s holding something back. It’s just the light, Shouto tells himself. 

Ace asks him how it happened, how the bandage upon his eyes came to be. And Shouto….

Shouto looks away, eyes blurry and fist clenched and throughout it all Ace is threading his hands through Shouto’s hair, not at all pulling his hair. It’s this back and forth motion. 

It’s oddly comforting. Shouto doesn’t get it. _Why does it matter?_

Ace doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t push. He sighs, pulls out his phone, and plucks Shouto up off of the ground and into his arms. 

“Come on,” Ace says and Shouto doesn’t know why…

Shouto doesn’t know why he’s sobbing into Ace’s shoulder as they make their way deeper into the forest.

——— 

Ace takes him to a small cabin in the area.

At least Shouto thinks it’s a small cabin. Shouto’s heard of people living in woody areas like these, not here specifically but similar areas. 

He doesn’t think about it too much. Or maybe he does a little bit, if only as a distraction. 

Ace rubs his back the whole way there. It’s weird, but it feels good even if it doesn’t make much of a difference to Shouto’s sobs. 

In the cabin—house(?)—Shouto meets someone. He thinks Ace introduces them to each other as they walk in. It’s all a blur. 

It’s all a blur because at some point Shouto finds himself on the couch in front of a blond man and all Shouto can think of is fire. 

Of the blue flames held in the blond man's left hand. 

_Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire._

Shouto screams.

——— 

Ace once asked him if he knew who Gold Roger was.

Gold Roger, Shouto knows from school, is—was one of the most notorious criminals to have walked this world. 

Shouto doesn’t know much about him and he tells Ace so. But Shouto does know that Gold Roger’s a bad man. 

Shouto looked at Ace then, but where Ace would have normally looked right back at him, Ace’s eyes were staring blankly at nothing ahead of him. 

It’s a look Shouto knows, but doesn’t understand.

——— 

Shouto doesn’t remember how, but somehow Ace manages to calm him down. Or maybe Shouto passes out, he doesn’t know and he doesn’t think it matters.

But when it happens, when Shouto blinks back into reality, Ace is there with him. 

Ace hasn’t left or hit him or anything. 

Ace is with him. 

And then when Shouto’s breathing evens out for a few seconds or maybe minutes or hours, Ace speaks. 

Ace speaks and explains and motions to the blond man—Marco—and Shouto’s nodding but not really following. 

Marco approaches him again, there’s no fire in his hand anymore, just air and skin and the lines making up his palms. 

Marco asks him if he can take the bandage off of his eye. He’s a doctor, he says, he just wants to see the damage. 

Shouto can’t really feel the touch, so maybe Marco’s not really touching his face because every time Shouto’s fiddled with the bandages or had to put more cream on it it hurt. It hurt a lot and there’s nothing hurting right now.

Marco whispers something to Ace, and then there’s a cooling sensation—at least Shouto thinks so.. 

And then when Marco takes his hand off of his face, he smiles—it’s a tiny smile, Shouto thinks—and asks Shouto if his eye feels any better. 

It does.

——— 

That night Shouto just before Shouto’s about to fall asleep he hears Ace not quite shout, but something close, “I should’ve known. I should’ve…”

At least that’s what Shouto thinks he hears, it’s been a long day and the bed is comfortable for once and not having to worry about his father is a bonus as well. 

(A lot has happened since that afternoon. He saw Ace, he met Marco, he managed to run away from home with the help of Ace and Shouto doesn’t think he’s ever been this emotionally drained or happy before.)

——— 

In reality, it’s Ace who’s afraid to let Shouto go back home.

Marco got one itsy bitsy peak at the bruises lining up against Shouto’s arm and it went downhill from then. All of a sudden Shouto couldn’t hide and Ace decided he had to push for more even if didn’t want to. 

Shouto tells him everything. Not everything but enough to draw conclusions. Just enough for Ace and in addition, Marco, to figure out what Shouto’s father has been doing to him and what’s happened to Shouto’s mother. 

Shouto’s crying by the end of it. He’s not sad or angry or hurt or happy or anything. 

Shouto doesn’t know what he’s feeling.

——— 

Shouto wakes up to Ace brokenly whispering, “I’m sorry” over and over again, repeatedly like a broken record.

Shouto doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for. Shouto doesn’t understand why he’s apologizing.

——— 

When Touya ran away from home it was quiet. Not just within the Todoroki household but through the news and media as well. Todoroki Enji, the Number Two Hero Endeavor, is a prominent hero with a lot of his life on display, his family’s well known—his wife and his kids—but somehow….

Somehow when Todoroki Touya disappeared the world kept on moving as if he didn’t exist. There was no news covering the missing first born of the popular hero Endeavor. 

There was nothing. 

It was as if Todoroki Touya never existed in the first place. 

It was as if Todoroki Touya wasn’t a member of the Todoroki household, and wasn't the first born son of the great hero Endeavor.

——— 

It’s all over the news.

It hasn't even been a full 24 hours. 

But while Ace is in the kitchen making breakfast for the two of them, Shouto turns on the TV in Ace’s living room, and the first thing that pops up is the news. 

The news anchor speaks what reads in big bold headlines spanning across the screen:

**Todoroki Shouto Missing!**  
_Suspected kidnapping of pro-hero Endeavor’s youngest son._


	2. ace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: child neglect/abuse

**part ii: ace**

_I-I think I may have kidnapped someone._

_You think?_

_Yeah._

_Yeah yeah._

_Okay, wait, that sounds bad._

_Listen—he—the kid—his situation was bad. And I-I should’ve known better—I should’ve seen the signs. Fuck, there were so many signs._

_I don’t know what to do. Do I send him back—or to somewhere? Do I keep him? What do I do?_

_The full sleeves in this heat, all those bruises—I should’ve known._

_What do I do?_

++++ 

“Did you hear,” the men in the pub would laugh, “rumor has it,” he cackled, “Gold Roger had a _kid_. Can you believe it? _Gold Roger_. A _kid_.”

“The Gold Roger,” he’d continue, “god damn, what I wouldn’t do to that kid.”

They laugh. “Man, just imagine it. That demon with a gun to his head. Or maybe stick a needle into him, one for every thing Gold Roger did.”

++++ 

Ace grows up in isolation.

Ace grows up in a cabin in the woods, surrounded by bandits and nothing but the woods. 

Ace grows up with sparse visits from a grandfather who hits him under the guise of training and bandits who barely acknowledge his existence. 

Ace grows up visiting the poor rural city just outside the woods sometimes, visiting the bar and it’s patrons—the patrons who tell him—without knowing who he is— that he shouldn’t exist—that he’s a demon.

Ace grows up fending for himself in the woods.

++++ 

Ace meets Sabo when he’s six.

He’s trying to steal a nice expensive looking antique from one of the outdoor shops lining the streets when someone bumps into him and grabs his newest haul. 

Ace needs the money that the pawn shop’ll give him for it and he sure as hell isn’t going to let his haul get away. 

So Ace, naturally, runs after him—which in turn leads the shop owner to knowing that some of her goods have just been stolen—which leads to her chasing after the two of them. 

Somehow, between all of the running and yelling—Ace and the blond kid, once Ace finally caught up to him—are working together to get the shop owner off of their trail. 

It’s weird how in-synch their throwing boxes to the ground and bumping into strangers things they get. Side-by-side they manage to evade the shop owner and that’s what leads to their partnership.

It’s the first true positive relationship he’s ever had.  
It’s also the shortest. 

++++ 

Legend has it—or well it’s not really legend, more like history—that Gold Roger was quirkless.

At least it’s been recorded that Gold Roger was quirkless. 

The man was strong—insanely so—and his mere presence was what brought most men down to their knees. 

Gold Roger: ruthless, “King of the Pirates”, most notorious villain to date, was quirkless. 

That one small detail is what made him so infamous. It’s what made him the Number 1 villain in the world. It’s what gave him the nickname _Pirate King_. Because pirates were known for their plundering and violence and that’s why Gold Roger was known as one—and it didn’t help that he traveled the world—especially visiting coastal areas—stealing and doing whatever he wanted in the name of being free. 

You can’t be strong if you’re quirkless, you can’t be a hero if you’re quirkless, so how could one be such an infamous villain without a quirk. 

Gold Roger proved that quirks didn’t make you strong.

And that’s what made him so notorious.

So notorious, that even after his execution the sentiment is still returned to those associated with him—even the ones unborn.

++++ 

Ace wakes up to a stick poking his face. A long rough bug-infested stick poking at his face. He can practically feel the ants climbing atop his face.

It’s unpleasant to say the least. 

He’s lying on the ground. In the middle of the forest and the stick is still poking him. 

He really should open his eyes. Maybe that would help. 

Ace groans and shifts. 

Stupid narcoleps—

And then something screams and the woods are a lot hotter than a second ago—and oh—that’s a fire. 

Did he do that?

No, his quirk may have manifested just a few years ago but he’s an expert handler of it now. 

It’s then he notices the kid. 

Ace’s hand hovers over the fire—it’s just a small patch of grass so it’s fairly easy to put out. 

And then he turns to the kid. 

“Hey, you okay?”

++++ 

Ace’s hands are shaking.

Even as Marco holds his hands in his they’re shaking. Ace can see the shaking tips of his fingers peeking out at him almost mockingly. _Weak_ , they seem to say _pathetic_.

Marco’s holding him close. Reassuring him. 

“It’s okay,” he says. 

But it’s not. 

It’s not okay. 

“I should’ve known...”

Because Shouto doesn’t deserve any of that and Ace should’ve been better. Ace should’ve known. 

“It’s not okay!” Ace says before almost yelling. “I should’ve known!”

Marco’s grip on his hands tightens. Just a small bit.

“Ace—“

“I should’ve.... The signs were all there. I should’ve known.”

“Ace—“

“I’ve seen the bruises before—I just thought he was playing around and got hurt. He’s got siblings. I thought—Luffy and I were like that too. I didn’t think—I should’ve known.”

Aces breaths come puffing out. If only he had, if only. 

“Ace.”

If only. If only. If only. 

He should’ve. Should’ve. Should’ve. 

The signs were there. 

The full sleeves. The bruises. 

God, he’s seen the kid flinch when Ace got too excited for things and yelled or when he was teaching about the woods and Shouto answered wrong. 

The signs were all there. 

And yet—

“Ace,” and then Marco’s shaking him out of his thoughts. “Breathe. One...two...three...”

Ace takes deep breaths to the sound of Marco’s voice. 

“Shouto is fine,” Marco holds him close. “He’s fine now. You got him out of there. He’s sleeping in the other room. He’s safe. We’ll work out where to go from here and everything will be fine.”

“I’ll call pops,” Marco rubs Ace’s back as Ace clutch on his shirt tightens. “I’ll check up on Shouto again when he wakes up. We’ll ask him what he wants too. And then we’ll go from there. Okay?”

“Y-yeah.” Ace’s takes a stuttering breath, “okay.”

++++ 

Ace can’t help but check up on Shouto before going to bed. Marco’s already asleep and Ace had stayed to eat.

Shouto’s asleep. 

The kid looks so peaceful. He’s sprawled out like a starfish and snoring a bit. 

Ace runs a hand through Shouto his hair

and brokenly he whispers, “I’m sorry.”

++++ 

It’s all over the news by morning.

Ace is in the kitchen making breakfast for the two of them. 

Marco’s gone for work at the hospital, but before Marco left Marco checked up on Shouto and asked him a few things before coming back to Ace and relaying it. 

Most of what he said wasn’t good. Shouto’s burn although better will most likely scar and there may be a tiny bit of eye damage—Marco would have to find a way to check it out better later. 

Aside from that, Marco checked Shouto further and he’s got some— _a lot_ —of scars on him that could be as old as years—and oh _fuck_ what did the kid go through. And the bruises—the boy practically had more of those than skin—were all in varying stages of healing and Marco managed to heal most of those. 

Shouto’s in the TV room. 

When Shouto turns on the TV and the first thing Ace hears is: 

“Todoroki Shouto kidnapped. Suspected kidnapping of pro-hero Endeavors youngest child. Yesterday—” 

Shouto turns off the TV and by the time Shouto turns his head—most probably to check if Ace heard it—he says, “I’m not going back!”

“I wanna stay here with you,” he cries, “please don’t make me go back.”

Ace’s heart stops. 

And he pulls Shouto up from the couch and into his arms as he sobs. 

Ace thinks he may be crying too.

++++ 

Not all heroes are good and all villains are bad. Some people with good intentions do bad things and other people with bad intentions do good things.

Ace learned that quickly when he first met Whitebeard and his ragtag crew. 

Dubbed “The Strongest Man in the World,” Whitebeard was (considered) a good man (to those who knew him) who did what some considered bad things. 

Pro-hero Endeavor, the Number Two hero, is the opposite.

++++ 

Ace homeshools Shouto.

Ace teaches him math, science and geography.  
Marco teaches Shouto everything else. 

They have a good system going. They start working in the mornings--sometimes early afternoon. Ace doesn’t really work. He has odd jobs every now and then but other than that he’s not busy, so the mornings are his time and when Marco comes home from work then that’s his time. 

They can’t exactly send Shouto out to school. The news is still reeling and everywhere you look and anything you hear it’s about Number 2 hero Endeavor’s kidnapped son. And Shouto has a pretty recognizable face. 

So Shouto stays at home with Ace and they learn and adventure outside together.

++++ 

When Ace first met Shouto he thought the kid was weird.

Shouto didn’t smile too much and he wore full sleeves even in the scorching heat and he’d come during various times of the day. 

Even though most of their meetups were by chance, they still managed to meet pretty often. 

Which is still weird, because sometimes they’d meet up early in the morning on the weekdays and didn’t the kid have school? Unless they had a lot of days off. Or maybe he’s not in school? But then wouldn’t his parents be here with him? That’s a thing parents do, right?

And the bruises probably meant he has siblings. So shouldn’t they be here at least? 

The kid’s tiny. 

So being alone’s not normal. 

Right?

(Months later when the kid shows up with one bandaged eye and a look that resembled Ace’s everytime he was told about Gold Roger’s supposed son, Ace’s heart shattered.)

++++ 

Monkey D. Garp, Ace’s grandfather, tells Ace on one sunny morning after another night Ace snuck out to ask the men in the pub about Gold Roger and his rumored child, that the only person who can decide if Ace should be alive or not is himself.

Not anyone else. 

Not him, not Dadan, not Sabo, not the men in the pub. 

Ace has to decide for himself.

++++ 

Before when Sabo was still alive, Ace dreamt of freedom—of exploring the world with nothing holding him back.

And in those dreams he’s surrounded by his brothers—Sabo and Luffy. The two of them are always right beside him in those dreams. 

Ace dreamt of the outside world. 

Of the world outside of the woods of the woods. Of the places that he’s never been and probably never will be—not for as he shouldn’t exist. 

Ace dreamt of leaving. 

He dreams of leaving the mountain and the bandits raising him and having to hunt for food himself and coming back to a loud crowded house where Dadan yells at him and calls him a demon child when she thinks he’s asleep. 

Ace dreamt of family. 

And of finding himself—of discovering if he really should be alive. It’s not until later on when he figures this is his true dream. He’s only ever wanted to travel because that’s what Sabo and Luffy wanted. And because that’s what Sabo and Luffy wanted he wanted that too. 

Sabo and Luffy are his brothers. His family. And what they want he wants.

Now, Ace dreams of happiness and no regrets.

++++ 

When Ace asks Shouto what he wants to do, Shouto tells it to him simply with a wide smile in his face as if stating his name

“A hero!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh this was supposed to uploaded like 2 weeks ago but ive never really been satisfied with it and im still not 100% satisfied with it but here it goes. this also deviated a lot from the original plan but oh well.
> 
> a couple of notes:  
> \- the first scene is a conversation between ace and himself  
> \- ace doesnt exactly have a normal childhood so thats a lot of the reason as to why he doesnt catch onto shoutos home life quicker  
> \- whitebeard is still considered strongest man in the world though there has been debate about him vs all might  
> \- gold roger died before all might became a hero. roger is also considered the greatest villain of all time throughout the world, even worse  
> than all for one.  
> \- so yeah lots of canon divergence from one piece.
> 
> anddd yeah i think thats it
> 
> thanks for reading <3


End file.
